Garbage Disposal Repair in Bensalem: Fast Fixes for Jams, Leaks, and Dead Units

Unless you're experiencing some sort of mysterious event, garbage disposals give signs before they fail. However, you need to know what sounds indicate what.

Humming but not grinding means there's a good chance the flywheel is jammed. Often this problem can be fixed with an Allen wrench and doesn't require a professional visit. However, when there's no hum or sound when the garbage disposal is turned on, something else is happening. It could be as simple as a tripped reset button, but could indicate a burned-out motor or a wiring issue. The latter is common in Bensalem homes built before the 1980s, since wiring wasn't set up to accommodate the electrical needs of modern garbage disposals.

If you've got water under your sink when you use the garbage disposal, that's a whole other animal. Nine times out of ten, it's an internal seal failure, and tightening won't help. That means dealing with the housing, or, most likely, replacing the disposal.

• If it hums but doesn't grind it's probably jammed. Try the reset button first.
• Nothing happens, no hum: could be an electrical problem or dead motor.
• Leaking under the sink: worn seal or cracked housing.
• Material builds up deep inside the grind chamber, causing a persistent bad smell.
• Slow drain along with disposal issues may indicate a clog further down the drain.

And it's okay if you're unsure. Roughly half of our calls are customers trying to determine what is causing some sort of sound or issue. It happens more than you'd think, and more times than not, we'll be able to figure it out for you over the phone.

Most disposals will last 8-12 years before the electric motor finally quits on you. Considering the wet, greasy environment in which it operates, this isn't an unreasonable life expectancy. Once it starts making strange grinding noises, humming but not turning, or leaking from the bottom, chances are the seals or motor windings have failed beyond repair and it's time to start shopping for a replacement. Spending money to have the unit repaired at that point will only postpone the need for a new one.

• If it's under 8 years old and jammed or tripped, it's almost certainly fixable.
• Leaks from the sink flange or dishwasher connection can often be fixed with a seal repair instead of replacing the entire unit.
• If the unit is leaking from the bottom, the motor seal is faulty and replacement is usually the most sensible option.
• If there's no grinding, just constant humming, the impeller could be stuck — try a repair before replacing.
• If it smells burnt or the reset button won't stay pushed in, it's probably the motor.

If a disposal needs to be replaced, we replace it. It's fine to fix it as long as the fix is much cheaper than replacing it, including labor. But if the repair is going to cost most of what a new disposal, installed, would cost, it's better to replace it. Most plumbers follow this guideline, even in their own homes.

Interestingly, we regularly remove garbage disposals in Bensalem near the more historic areas of the township, which feature older homes. Some of these disposals have been in since kitchen remodels decades back, and they're totally unsalvageable. On the other hand, we often repair newer disposals in the Street Road area, which might have a tripped unit that needs resetting or a fork that needs removing.

A quick diagnosis beats a good guess. It's okay if you're not sure which category your situation fits into — that's pretty common.

Some issues with garbage disposals do not need a plumber. We've gotten enough calls where all that was needed to fix it was a trip into the kitchen, a flashlight, and some patience.

If you drop something like a bone or a spoon in the disposal and it immediately shuts off, unplug it. Use a pair of tongs to fish out whatever's blocking it — never reach in with your hands. If it hums but won't run, your blades are probably just stuck. Most disposals have a hex socket on the bottom. Get an Allen wrench, fit it into the socket, and rotate the blades back and forth to free them. If it won't turn on at all, you may need to replace it, but before making that investment, try pressing the reset button on the bottom, usually a red switch. That fixes it more times than not.

• If the disposal is humming but not turning, try using a hex wrench first.
• If the unit goes silent, press the reset button before calling for help.
• If you drop something in the unit, unplug the machine and use tongs to remove it.
• If the disposal is working but the sink is draining slowly, the problem is likely just built-up food.

Our team can help if the disposal doesn't work after resetting it and removing the jam. At that point, your disposal most likely has a wiring or motor issue, and it's time to call in the pros.

In Bensalem Township there are some homes built so long ago that a garbage disposal wasn't even considered. A broken garbage disposal in an older home can mean a different scope of repair as a result.

Garbage disposals in newer homes, especially in the newer developments near Route 13 and off of Street Road, are easier to service because they have a standard trap coming off of them and adequate room and a dedicated electrical outlet. Servicing these disposals is nothing more than replacing or unclogging them. Older disposals can be tricky to service because we're dealing with drains that were never built with disposals in mind.

We also find that in older plumbing systems, cast iron piping corrodes on the inside, reducing the inside diameter. People aren't aware of this. We'll be under a sink where the garbage disposal is in perfect working order and the problem is a backup — the disposal works fine, but the cast iron drain doesn't have the proper flow. So what appears to be an easy call ends up being a bigger problem behind the sink cabinet.

Another factor: in older homes it's not uncommon to find switched outlets that were added after construction, often not up to code. If your disposal trips the breaker or simply hums along without turning, it's quite possibly not the disposal — it can be the wire feeding it.

That doesn't mean repair isn't an option, but before crossing it off the list it's important to have the problem correctly diagnosed, especially in an older Bensalem kitchen versus a newer one.

First, we listen. We listen to the disposal, sure, but we listen to you, too. We want to know when it first stopped working. Did it give a hint of a hum or was it completely silent? Chances are, in the first minute of talking, we'll have a lot of clues.

• Before we perform any work on the unit, we trip the breaker or unplug it — safety first, always.
• Underneath the sink, we check for leaks especially around the mounting ring and drain lines.
• To check for jams, we press the reset button and manually turn the flywheel with an Allen wrench.
• We pull whatever is stuck, usually bits of bone, a fork, or fruit pits.
• Only after it passes our running-water test do we consider the unit complete.
• Since the dishwasher drain hose runs into the same system, we take a look at that connection while we're in there.

Ninety percent of the time, some tiny object becomes lodged in the chamber and jams the grinder, shutting off the disposal's motor. We see this on a weekly basis in Bensalem homes, usually in the older houses in or around the more historic areas of the township, where the sink's cabinet is particularly tight and the pipes haven't been touched in years.

If the motor has burnt out, or if there's a leak coming from the unit itself, that's a different story. We'll walk you through your options — we won't pick up our tools to repair it until you know exactly what's wrong with it.